


Cataclysm

by Experiment413



Series: Cataclysm [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Androids, Angst, Attempted Murder, Blood and Gore, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Injury, Multi, Near Death Experiences, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-12 01:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4460372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Experiment413/pseuds/Experiment413
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strange stuff has been going down since the murder of Wayward Vagabond. An AI's taken over his computer, his murderer is nowhere to be found, and nobody expected what was coming.</p><p>This is the end of the line.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a little story based around a roleplay of /themayorofcantown's old Wayward Vagabond's untimely death and the surrounding events, but in an AU in which D.O.O.M.E.D. quickly became more sentient and power hungry and never shut down, while the new WV never showed up to replace the dead one. 
> 
> Thank you to Jill for helping me a little with this!  
> Also thanks to The Voting Queen//swingingonthechainofprospit for writing Mobius on occasion.
> 
> Thanks for the support: /mendican, /draconiandigintary, Voting//swingingonthechainofprospit, /themayorofcantown, /classyprospitianpaint  
> Thanks for the art: /themayorofcantown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DEAN: I'm interested to what exactly you think is going to make things go boom.
> 
> DEAN: Considering I already know for sure.
> 
> WV: You said it yourself.
> 
> DEAN: What did I say, Vagabond?
> 
> WV: Cataclysm.
> 
> \- a roleplay between Droog/Dusk//dracioniandignitary and WV//themayorofcantown

Your perils were in the back of your mind today. You blame it on your little chess partner here, insisting you to stop worrying for a few hours and come play chess with her. It was quite surprising; she made for a worthy opponent. But the fact remained that you were naturally good at this game.

 

Not even looking into Miss Paint's eyes, you moved one of your black pieces to capture one of her white pawns. That's when she walked in.

Peregrine Mendicant was mad, and you could tell, even if just seeing her as a blur of white in the corner of your eye. The Prospitian slammed her fists on the table and made such a loud noise that Miss Paint nearly fell out of her seat.

 

"Okay, PM--"

"Now is not the time, Hadron!" She cut you off, which took you by surprise. You looked her up and down quickly. Something had happened.

You gave a long exhale and merely pat Paint on the shoulder before standing up and walking over to PM.

You stared at her for about a minute before she took off the ring and started to cry. You sighed and said, "Look, PM, no matter how many times you're going to go out looking for him, it's going to be useless."

 

"No, no, Hadron-- I--"

"Spit it out."

"I found him."

 

You paused, and Paint took on a surprised expression. "Where is he, then?" Paint asked, getting up out of her seat.

"He's dead, Paint."

"You found his corpse." You backed away from her after speaking, and she gave you a small nod. Paint look like she'd witness someone being crushed.

 

"Okay, okay, it's not like we weren't expecting this," you began. "We were all assuming WV was going to be dead in the first place."

"I wanted him to be alive, Hadron!"

"We couldn't stop his death, it was his own decision to go and fight Noir!"

With that, the room fell silent. You sat back down, in a different seat, and left the Prospitians to comforting each other.

 

Knowing Wayward Vagabond had actually died did hurt you, though. But death was a thing you saw a lot of, so now the feelings of pain of knowledge of one's death was numbed in a strange way. You were sad though, just in some odd way one could never describe.

Ever since WV left suddenly to go fight Bec Noir and that AI magically took his place after a day or two, you've been left mostly confused.

 

"Hey, Hadron?" Paint tapped you lightly on the shoulder. You looked her way.

"Did you ask about D.O.O.M.E.D. yet?"

"Oh, no, I haven't. Here. I'll contact Mobius." You grabbed your laptop from your Sylladex and opened Pesterchum. You opened a log.

 

\-- obsidianTowers [OT] began pestering goldenTowers [GT]. --

 

OT: How's the AI hunting going?

GT: Well it's a little frustrating.

GT: He seems so sure that there's no threat.

OT: A threat somewhat remains.

OT: You're not gonna believe the news I have for you.

GT: ...I take it that it's bad news.

OT: PM found WV's corpse. She's a fucking train wreck.

GT: Oh, god.

OT: At least our suspicions were right, hey.

GT: I just wish...

GT: I wish we could've done something.

GT: Stopped this.

 

Paint shifted uncomfortably.

 

OT: He went on his own accord, what could we have done?

GT: WV didn’t deserve this and Paint and PM don’t either.

GT: I don’t know.

GT: I just can’t stop thinking that there had to be something we could’ve done.

OT: He went without telling us until he actually left.

OT: There was no stopping it.

GT: Yeah, yeah… that won't stop me thinking about it though.

GT: Anyways. Hopefully getting rid of the AI will help.

OT: Hopefully.

GT: If I can find it that is; having an entire universe to search is kind of really hard.

GT: And the AI isn’t giving any intentional hints.

OT: It's getting more and more sentient.

GT: Which is not a good thing.

GT: At least it doesn’t feel like it’s good.

OT: Hopefully you find it.

OT: And shut it down.

GT: I'm gonna, one way or another.

OT: I thought it was trapped in the place WV left it, no?

OT: Did it get out and into another system?

GT: Yeah, but the problem is, no one seems to know where WV was even staying.

 

You squinted at screen. What does he mean, no one seems to know? Did he lose the coordinates?

 

OT: I thought you had that location.

GT: And god forbid it can spread through the system.

OT: Well.

GT: What?

OT: Let's hope it. Can't do that.

GT: Oh, well. Yeah.

GT: Let’s hope.

GT: This feels a little ridiculous. Out of a movie or something.

GT: Chasing down an AI gone rogue, 'oh no what if spreads through the system'.

OT: It's more frustrating over here.

OT: I think chasing down a rogue AI is easier than hunting Noir.

GT: … I'm still annoyed that you guys are going to do that at all.

GT: Especially because I'm not there to help.

OT: We'll be fine.

GT: I know, you're all capable, but I worry.

OT: I worry too, Paint's worrying as well, she’s watching over my shoulder.

GT: We're all worried, I guess. Tell her I say hello and I hope she's doing alright. Or she can read it I guess.

 

Paint grinned at the yellow words directed to her.

 

OT: Stay safe.

OT: ..

OT: You nerd.

GT: You too.

GT: <3

OT: <3

 

\-- obsidianTowers [OT] ceased pestering goldenTowers [GT]. --

 

Smiling, you closed the log. Paint walked back over to PM, who had moved to the entrance and had sat down, watching the sky.

 

You were about to close your laptop when someone messaged you.

 

\-- diamondsDroog [DD] began pestering obsidianTowers [OT]. --

 

DD: How’s it going?

OT: Droog, you understand I want nothing to do with you right now, correct?

DD: I’m aware of that.

DD: I’m just worried.

OT: There’s no need to be.

OT: Not anymore.

DD: What do you mean.

 

You were honestly trying to keep your black feelings for Droog toned down. He didn’t know you felt black for him. Not yet, at least. You step aside from joking with him.

 

OT: He’s dead, Droog.

 

There was a long pause. You stared at the wall of text for a few good minutes before typing.

 

OT: Are you okay?

 

You waited again, counting three minutes go by.

 

OT: I’m taking your silence as a no.

OT: I’ll leave you be.

 

\-- obsidianTowers [OT] ceased pestering diamondsDroog [DD]. --

 

You closed your laptop and leaned back in your seat, staring at the ceiling of the small building. There was two things you could do here. Hope and wait.

And that’s what you did, until it put you to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

A few days went by with nothing. There was no sign of Noir and no sign of the AI. And most unfortunately for you, no sign of Mobius. He hadn’t contacted you for days, nor would he respond to you. You couldn’t help but feel scared.

You sighed, and opened a log with someone you didn’t want to talk to ever again.

 

\-- obsidianTowers  [OT] began pestering D.O.O.M.E.D. [D]. --

OT: I’m a compulsive liar.

OT: Am I lying when I say that?

D: You’re honestly going to keep trying the paradox thing on me.

OT: I haven’t given up.

 

You laugh quietly to yourself. Even if the paradoxes haven’t and obviously won’t work, you enjoy the AI’s reactions.

 

D: But yes, Hadron Kaleido, you are quite the liar. Which I’d fully expect from a person like you.

D: You don’t trust your own Moirail, after all.

D: While you’ve taken after her, she intimidates you. And you’re scared of what will become of you if you get on her bad side.

 

You paused. How did he know this stuff? He may have gotten out of where he was confined and into another system. You may have been right.

 

OT: I’ve lived on Derse and worked for her Highness long enough to see what she can do.

OT: I have plenty reason to be somewhat scared of her, Moirails or not.

D: You’re looking for Mobius.

 

Jesus goddamned christ, this AI was ridiculous.

 

OT: And you’d be right.

D: I suspected as much.

D: Again, looking back at your conversations tells me you two are important to each other.

D: But no worries, Kaleido.

D: He’s alive, he merely fell for a little trap of mine.

OT: He hasn’t responded to me in days.

D: Because I’m keeping him from.

OT: You’re in his phone.

D: What else would you expect?

 

You gave a sharp inhale as you stopped typing. PM catches this as she walks by and offers you a glance. You were startled as she stopped next to you and you closed the window.

 

\-- obsidianTowers  [OT] has ceased pestering D.O.O.M.E.D. [D]. --

 

“Is everything okay, Hadron?” she asks.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” you tell her. She takes on a concerned expression before walking back off.

You closed your laptop. You shut your eyes tight, trying to kill a forming headache. After you did at least tone it down a little, you got up out of your seat and went to gather your uncapthalogued items and put them back into your Sylladex. You had a place to head to, and while it wasn’t the place you’d like to go, you supposed the trip would help you, even if slightly.

You pulled your multiverse machine from your Sylladex, inputted a set of coordinates you knew well, and teleported.

 

You hit the floor with a  thud! , and your multiverse machine was stubborn enough to make you land near head first. You made a painful noise has the floor hit your head hard.

You closed your eyes in pain before someone made you sit up and a calm, familiar voice that nearly soothed you spoke.

 

“Hadron.”

“Droog.” You had somewhat missed him over the past few days.

“Do you feel lightheaded? That was quite the fall.”

“I’m fine.”

 

He backed up, and you got back on your feet, locking eyes with the alternate of your former co-worker.

“What do you need?” Droog asked. He knew you only ever came for a reason.

“You loved him, no?” Your question, or rather, fact, made him pause. For once in your life, you think you made Diamonds Droog sad. You’d give him his time and space, sure, but you were going to stick around and try and fix this.

 

“Yes, I did,” he finally said. “I’m not surprised that you know. But what specifically do you want?”

“Do you know where he was? Before this happened, that is.”

“I’d immediately suspect he was at his own home.” He shrugged. No one really seemed to know where WV was. But one person did know where his computer was, and now he was gone.

 

Droog had watched your expression fall because of your own thoughts.

“Is something wrong, Hadron?”

“The AI. Yeah.”

“Mobius went looking for that thing, right?”

“Mhm. And it’s keeping him from talking to me, so I don’t know if he’s okay or not. I’m worried.” You heard your voice crack. Droog offered you a near concerned look.

“That’d explain,” he said. “You’re trying to find him.”

“Bingo. It could be very dangerous, sure, but it’s worth a shot.”

 

You paused before stating, “I wish any and all of us could’ve done the same for WV. I miss him.”

Droog shrugged. “There wasn’t much we could do.”

“No one but me seems to accept that. But why do you accept it?”

“Which ones are not accepting that fact?”

“The Prospitians.”

“Then you know my answer,” he said before giving you a smirk. You scoffed, but he was right.

“That’s reasonable.”

 

The topic descended into casual conversation, and when you two were done talking, you said your goodbyes quickly and teleported right back to the building you were staying in.

 

You startled Paint when you hit the floor, luckily landing on your feet.

“Where were you?” the Prospitian asked. “We didn’t see you for a while!”

“I was just checking up on Droog,” you responded. Paint gave a little nod.

“Is he doing well?”

“He’s okay. What about you two? Did anything happen while I was gone?”

“No. There’s been no sign of Noir. PM keeps trying to find him, and she’s not getting anywhere with it.” She shrugged, and gave a slight huff. You pat her on the shoulder again.

“We’ll catch him eventually, don’t worry,” you reassured her. “We’ll shut down that AI and then we can move on with our lives.”


	3. Chapter 3

You woke up to a quick, repeated tapping on your shoulder, and Paint saying your name over and over. You wondered why she was awake, it was pitch black outside. When you flipped yourself over to look at her, you registered her emotion as distressed.

“Is everything oka--” Before you could continue, she shooshed you and glanced out one of the windows quickly.

“Is everything okay?” you repeated, this time in a whisper. Paint shook her head.

“Noir showed up and attacked PM. I think they’re fighting,” the small Prospitian told you. “I’m concerned about her.”

You nodded to her, Wardrobifier switching you from your hoodie to your usual Agent wear. “I’ll check on her. Stay here.”

As you got up, you pat her on the shoulder, to try and somewhat convince her that everything would be okay, even if it didn’t turn out okay.

You pulled your sword from your Sylladex and walked out into the darkness of the night, and as you walked away, you heard Paint mutter, “Stay safe.”

 

You followed the sound of distant barking along with the vibrant green sparks and glitches you could see well against the sky. When you got close enough, you could tell Noir and PM were in fact fighting, hovering several dozen feet off of the ground. You quietly thanked the universe for keeping your dreamself alive, and that flight was a thing.

You jumped up into the air and darted to the dueling duo, and just as Noir went to strike to kill PM, you had flown in between the two and forced yourself to a stop, sword held in a defensive position. The sound of metal hitting metal practically rung through the landscape, but mostly hurt your ears, as familiar-sounding as it was to you. Noir was knocked back slightly from the recoil.

 

“What’re you doing here?” PM snapped at you, shoving you aside to save you from getting stabbed.

“Saving your _life_ ,” you snapped right back, slashing your sword at Noir, who swiftly dodged it.

“I’ve got this under control.”

“You obviously didn’t, if you near died.”

Noir took this brief period of distraction and bickering to try and hit you. PM caught this movement and shoved the two of you aside, but was off by a millisecond. She faltered slightly in her flight, wincing at a painful-looking cut on her side. You saw Noir smile slightly.

You practically pounced, going in for a stab, but he dodged again, and then you were left merely to sword fighting. The issue was that you were human, and it was the exact same thing the Black Queen had noticed so many years ago, you tired easily. The second you slowed down to get a breather, Noir swung at you, slicing a spot on your upper arm. You recaptchalogued your sword and grabbed the area where you’d been cut to try and stop the bleeding.

To both your and PM’s surprise, though, Noir stopped, perked up, and quickly left, as though he had something to do.

So you were left alone.

 

You dropped down to and sat on the ground, Wardrobifier switching to your fighting apparel to not stain or damage your Agent outfit any further. PM followed you, carefully landing and taking off the ring. You flipped through your Sylladex’s medical supplies, and you cursed quietly under your breath when you saw that you had no bandages in it. “We’ve gotta get back to Paint,” you said, knowing she’d have spare medical supplies. You got up and walked over to PM, trying to avoid gagging at the sight of the slash in her shell. It wasn’t like you’d never seen wounded carapacians before, it just unsettled you slightly.

You offered her your good arm, and she got back up. You helped her back to the building you were staying in.

 

Although you were focused on getting the two of you to safety and your destination, which wasn’t too far, your mind began to drift off into blurred, fearful thoughts. You pictured PM finding the corpse of WV, Droog’s silence on the pesterlog when you told him WV had died, Noir leaving you and PM without a single word, and of Mobius with that never-fading smile on his face. Where was Mobius anyway, and what had happened to him? The thought frustrated you, it played with your emotions, and it tested your patience and bravery in the worst of ways. Why couldn’t this mess just be done and over with? Why couldn’t have this never happened? You could just go home and continue with your life.

 _‘No, no, cut that out,’_ you told yourself. _‘You’re overreacting again. Knock it off.’_

Shoving those thoughts out of your mind, you walked back through the doorway, keeping PM close.

 

When Paint looked up, she gave a little gasp and scurried over to the two of you.

“What happened?!” she asked.

“Noir happened. Paint, can you take care of PM?” At your request, Paint nodded, letting PM lean onto her instead, despite the large difference in their heights.

“What about you?” Paint asked, motioning to the cut in your arm.

“I just need bandages,” you responded. “I’ll be fine.”

Paint went over and set PM carefully in a chair before looking through her own medical supplies, and retrieving two rolls of bandages and several pieces of gauze. She handed the extra roll of bandages to you and a piece of gauze and left to assist PM.

 

You sat off to the side, wrapping up the cut on your arm silently. You needed some time to consider your actions.

You could either stay here, help Paint and PM chase down Noir, as you had promised, or search for Mobius, wherever he may be. If you left, PM and Paint would still have each other. Mobius was alone on his half of the mission. But it was still evident you’d go after him.

  
You decided you’d sleep on it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song quoted here is Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men!

You did in fact sleep on the decision, but not for long. You woke up in the middle of the night,  just by chance, but most likely because of your strange sleeping schedule. You were used to being nocturnal, even if you did have to force yourself to sleep during the day because of living on Derse. But with the other two around, you had messed up your schedule again, and it was a hard thing to fix.

 

Regardless of the time or how tired you were, you had come to your decision. You triple-checked your Sylladex, but stopped to quickly write a note to Paint and PM, using your usual metallic lavender pen.

 

_Paint and PM,_

_Headed out for a bit. Rescue mission. If I don’t come back by dark, assume I got into some trouble._

_\- Hadron Kaleido_

 

You set this note on the table, using one of the black knights from the chess set to keep the paper from flying off if there happened to be a breeze. Once you put away your pen, you scanned over the contents of your Strife Specibus cards quickly and took out your multiverse machine and input coordinates to a place you hadn’t been to in quite a long time. Within a flash, you were gone.

 

You carefully approached WV’s house, and quietly opened the door. You stepped in and looked about. It was dead quiet, and even though it’d been a week or two, the place already had cobwebs in some corners. A flashlight would’ve been a good thing right now. It was dark, but your eyes would adjust. Plus, you’ve lived on Derse for more than half your life now, and while this place was certainly darker than the alleyways of the obsidian moon during night hours, your night vision seemed okay here.

You were on guard as you walked and looked about the main room, prepared for anything to come at you, ready at any moment to yank your sword out of your bladekind card.

 

You pased the room a few times before you found a hole in the floor, with a ladder leading down.. somewhere. You pulled out your sword, dropping to the bottom.

Before you was a tunnel, about seven feet tall and wide enough so about three people could walk side-by-side. It was filled with a horrid green light. Another thing you could note? There were wires, cables, bits of electronics almost everywhere, from cracks in the walls to underneath concrete slabs. They seemed to be almost like vines.

 

You quietly walked down the hall, ducking to avoid cables hanging from the ceiling on occasion. You pondered to yourself, why would WV have all this? Unless it wasn’t his doing, in which case, whose was it? The thought of another sentient entity having taken over your late friend’s home drove you insane.

 

 _‘No,’_ you told yourself. _‘You’re driving **yourself** insane, Hadron Kaleido. Knock it off.’ _

How long had it been? You’d been walking for a while, avoiding wires. There were no turns, no doors, no ladders, and no stairs in these tunnels. They just went straight. You couldn’t hear anything aside from the sound of your walking and the occasional spark of electricity from a broken wire. And because of which, you made sure your sword didn’t touch the wires, even in the slightest. You weren’t getting electrocuted. Not today.

 

You took a few steps before discovering, no, you weren’t alone. A song was being sung, by the most familiar of voices. It was faint, but certainly coming from down the way.

Your step quickened, but unfortunately, it was quite hard to make sure your footsteps made hardly any noise. But did you care? Not in the least bit. You were going to grab Mobius and get him the hell out.

 

But something just felt.. _wrong_ about this situation.

 

As you grew closer, you could see a turn-- finally-- in the path, and the song was much more clear.

 

“ _You’re gone, gone, gone away. I watched you disappear. All that’s left is a ghost of you._ ”

 

You approached the turn, a slower than before.

 

“ _Now we’re torn, torn, torn apart. There’s nothing we can do. Just let me go, we’ll meet again soon._ ”

 

You pressed yourself to the piece of wall before the turn, peering around it. There was another stretch of hallway before there was a room. It filled with wires, and there, trapped amongst them, was Mobius. The wires had wrapped around him tightly, as thick as ropes.

He was hurt. He was bruised, scratched up, and bloodied.

You broke out into a run, and not only that, but the next verse of song.

 

“ _Now wait, wait, wait for me! Please hang around!_ ”

 

Mobius perked up and upon seeing you smiled, but almost halfway down the hall, cables hanging from the ceiling moved. They grabbed you by the neck, stopping you from going any further.

 

Before the wires tightened and you passed out, the last line of the verse rung in your head.

  
_‘I’ll see you when I fall asleep.’_


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /themayorofcantown, who plays the WV that was killed in this story, is turning Cataclysm from an AU into reality. Please kill us.  
> Here's the art they made: http://i.xomf.com/wvxxw.jpg

You remember.

 

It was a few weeks ago, you picturing you bolting through crowds of dark carapacians. The near-overcrowded obsidian moon was something you remembered too well. It was vivid. You knew every pathway, every building, every corner and twist and turn, every crack in the violet bricks, every bridge that crossed across the sky, and every tower. On this particular night, you darted across bridges, heading towards the castle.

 

You were faster on foot than in the sky, no matter how crowded the bridges tended to be. Derse was lively at this time of night, but it didn’t slow you down. Nothing ever would.

 

You could remember stepping into the throne room, greeting the Black Queen with your usual bow. She’d called you here for something, a job of sorts. You didn’t agree with its terms, and declined. You couldn’t remember what it was or its intent, but you knew it existed.

 

By why that, in specific? That memory. Why it? You questioned it for a few seconds before snapping out of your Time player daze.

 

This room was new. There were no visible exits and it was very dark. You could see maybe a few feet in front of you, but this room was empty, as far as you knew. Your neck hurt. You’d been choked. Great.

So much for Dersite instincts. Aside from naturally being violent, although you weren’t carapacian, it was an instinct to attack the moment you’re provoked. How had that not kicked in?

 

You reached for your Sylladex, only to find your Strife Specibus was empty. All four cards you’d kept within it were missing their contents. No sword, no overload of knives, no pistol. You looked through your other Sylladex cards, to find nothing as well. Great.

 

A metallic voice made you jump.

“I’m honestly surprised I was able to catch you.”

 

You stopped, looking around the room.

Glowing seafoam eyes met yours, and a robot-- no, an android-- stepped forward. You were still trying to adjust to the abnormal darkness. When you got a good look at the android, you cursed under your breath.

 

“D.O.O.M.E.D., where the hell--”

“Silence, Kaleido. We aren’t exactly... _secure_ in here.”

 

You growled. You’d kill him, right here, right now, if you could. But you were unarmed. And if you could find anything here, you’d use it as a weapon.

You tried to throw a punch at the android, but your arm was caught, again by wires. You realized he was controlling those things. But how? It seemed impossible. You shut your eyes and prayed to Skaia that you could peer into one of your alternate verses. One of them had to know how. You hadn’t ascended, so your Time player trances only happened when they wanted to. They were beyond your control. Maybe it would happen now, maybe it wouldn’t. It was the same with Mobius and gazing into the future, seeing all the terrible visions he had described to you in the clouds.

 

But you had to snap out of your focus when D.O.O.M.E.D. shoved you back. You were almost knocked over, but you caught yourself. You also finally got a clearer look at him.

 

The android was poorly made. It lacked plating in parts, and what plating existed was thin and scratched. Its fingertips were like claws, similarly to a carapacian’s, but certainly sharper. His eyes glowed the same shade of turquoise WV’s text had. He had no mouth, and showed no emotion.

 

“I wasn’t surprised you’d come looking for him,” he said. “But when I caught him, I had to remind myself. You two are destined lovers, no? If I killed him there, I’d doom your sorry little session. I wouldn’t want something to die that easily, now would I? Regardless--” He took out a knife from a Sylladex, one of _your_ knives, and maybe WV’s Sylladex. He had you pinned against a wall now, the knife’s blade pressing right against your neck. “He was going to shut me down, Kaleido. He’s such a braveheart, isn’t he? But he simply underestimates people. I can see why, he’s used to fighting you _Dersites_.”

 

He sliced the front of your neck lightly, as to not cut any major veins. You winced, moving a hand to the cut to put pressure on it. You attempted to kick him, only to have your leg caught by wires as well. Other wires wrapped themselves around your torso and pinned you to the wall.

 

“See? Predictable weaklings,” You could hear a hint of amusement in his voice. “You know, if you’d never gone to work for her, then you’d be a ricocheting bullet. Nobody would know where it would hit. But, I guess fate put you in the place it wanted you to be.”

 

“The Black Queen will have your _head_ for this,” you snarled at him, wincing from the pain.

 

“It’s unlikely,” the android said. “You’d be surprised about my plans for these univer--” He was cut off when he turned around to used the wires to hit.. _something_ aside.

 

There was a _clang!_ of metal when something hit the floor and a “Shit!” from the other side of the room. D.O.O.M.E.D. laughed.

 

“Trip, what did I tell you? I thought I gave you that back for a perfectly good plan, and you went and messed it up. Congratulations, you’re fucked.”

 

But there was a third noise. An explosion, and a good-sized piece of the ceiling blew up. A chunk of it landed right onto D.O.O.M.E.D., and you had to brace yourself to avoid any falling pieces.

 

A large, carapacian hand grabbed you and yanked you right out of the area just as a piece of ceiling hit you.

And again, you were unconscious.


	6. Chapter 6

You awoke in a room. It was somewhat familiar to you. You felt at your neck to find bandages, and found a spot on your head that hurt. A lot.

You were wearing what you liked to wear when you were fighting. A black tank top and jeans. Your arms were wrapped in bandages, as was your ankle. You likely got scratched from the explosion.

You looked over your arms again. They were terribly scarred from fights and random injuries. But yet again, what part of you wasn’t scarred? You lived on Derse. Brutality wasn’t uncommon.

 

Nobody was there with you, so you cautiously got out of the bed you were in. You opened the door and stepped into a living room. This was Droog’s home.

 

To your left was Hearts Boxcars and Clubs Deuce, likely flirting with each other. Ahead and to the left of you, in the corner of the room, was Miss Paint and Pickle Inspector, chatting with each other, as they usually would. Ahead and to the right was Droog and PM, voices lowered to a whisper, looking away from everyone.

 

Miss Paint waved at you and smiled, and you waved back.

 

Hearts looked behind himself, startled, to face you. “Ey, Kaleido!” he said. Deuce, opposite of him, waved at you.

 

“Yer not hurt, are ya?” Concern in Hearts’s voice was something you hadn’t heard in a while.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Good, good. Deucey here was worried about ya. When ‘e saw that his bomb had knocked ya and Trip out, he kinda panicked.”

“Box!” protested Deuce, tugging at the massive carapacian’s coat. “I told you to not tell her!”

Hearts chuckled quietly and you almost laughed.

“It’s kinda evident you guys care about me anyway. Just look at Droog,” you said.

“Ah, he doesn’t count. The both of ya are too similar. It’s just good to know both you an’ Trip are okay! Wouldn’t want to loose ya. Both of ya. Trip’s a nice man, Kaleido. Yer lucky.”

 

The three of you were interrupted when a knife whizzed through the air and stuck right into the wall between you and Hearts. Looking at the thrower of it, you saw Spades Slick.

 

“Quit your clamerin’!” he yelled, and everyone but PM and Droog fell silent. “I’m tryin’ to get some damn shut-eye an’ I can’t because of all the fuckin’ commotion goin’ on in the other room.”

“Sorry boss,” Hearts apologized, but perhaps he was being sarcastic. You couldn’t tell.

“What the hell’s goin’ on anyway?” Spades looked around the room.

 

Paint spoke up. “Hadron woke up and everyone’s merely talking.”

“Talkin’ a lil too much,” Spades muttered. “Whatever they’re goin’ on about has zero importance, I’m sure.”

“Aaw, come on, boss,” said Hearts, almost teasingly. “Yer just bein’ grumpy.”

“Yeah!” agreed Deuce. “I think we’re naturally noisy anyway! You should be used to it.”

“He’s right,” Droog spoke up. “When we’re all together, it’s rare that we’re quiet. Also,” He turned to you. “Welcome back Hadron. Mobius is in another room if you want to find him. I think he’s awake.”

 

You nodded at him before going off to find Mobius.

You knocked on the other room’s door, and you opened the door just a smidge, peering in.

 

Mobius was sitting up in the bed, taking care of the cuts and injuries on him the others hadn’t. You supposed Paint hadn’t helped him yet. But, the Prospitians seemed really good about treating wounds, even if they didn’t live on a planet known for the occasional violence.

 

You stepped in, and he looked up at you.

“Hey HK!” he said, giving you his signature smile.

“I was worryin’ about you,” you said, and walked over to kiss him right on the forehead. He laughed quietly.

“I was worrying about you too. It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too.”

 

You hopped up onto the bed, sitting next to him.

 

“So what’d he do to you?”

“Ah.” Mobius glanced away quickly, as if nervous. “It’s kinda hard to explain.”

“We’ve got all the time in the world.”

“I don’t know. He tried to strike some shitty deal with me.” Mobius flopped onto the bed, crossed his arms, and stared at the ceiling. “I declined, he hurt me.”

 

You knew his memory wasn’t great. He was just having a hard time recalling it.

You gave a nod. He sat up again and reached to hold your hand.

 

“Wanna go back to the others, or are you gonna stay here?” you asked him.

“I’ll come. I’ve done what I can,” he said. “But before that..”

 

He kissed you, and you blushed a bright red and gave a little giggle.

 

“I love you,” he whispered to you.

“I love you too.”

 

You stepped back out into the living room, and Mobius followed. People were arguing, and Droog had lost control of the situation.

Spades and PM looked like they were ready to kill someone. Paint was calming down a panicking PI, and Hearts was probably gonna punch someone, despite Clubs tugging at his suit, trying to get him away from the issue.

 

“We’re not going to let anyone go back!” PM snapped at Droog.

“B said Trip was a fuckin’ train wreck and that thing was an android!” Spades yelled as well.

“Says the cyborg,” muttered Droog.

 

The three were arguing so loudly that it was hard to tell what was even going on. The carapacians fighting reminded you. You had something to do. You checked your Sylladex, but nothing was there. So much for that.

The Black Queen would likely be lenient of your absence though. She was your Moirail after all. You’d known her for years, you trusted her, she trusted you. The fate of Derse was in her hands, and you made sure nothing damaged it.

You had her back, and thus the whole planet of Derse’s.

 

You casually walked over and punched Spades as hard as you could. When he toppled backwards, you saw you cracked his optic. Paint scurried over, taking the now temporarily blind Spades over to the corner with her and PI. She could fix him.

 

That was one troublemaker down. When this was over, you were going to enjoy seeing Spades try to get revenge on you.

PM would kick your ass to Skaia and back, hell no you weren’t messing with her.

 

You locked eyes with Droog. He seemed dead serious about whatever was going on. Plus, he was mad.

 

“What’s up.”

“Everyone’s objecting to the plan that we go back and kill that thing.”

“D.O.O.M.E.D.?”

“Yes.”

“I say we go.”

“See?” Droog’s gaze shifted to PM. “Hadron says we should go back and kill it.”

“But wait,” you said. “We go back for more than that. We get my stuff back, we get information--”

Mobius finished your sentence. “And then we get revenge.”

“Exactly!”

 

Droog paused in thought.

 

“Sounds like a plan. But details are still needed.”

 

You glanced at Mobius.

“We’ve got details,” said the Prospitian Archagent, and he looked back at you. “I won’t remember the plan though.”

“Don’t worry,” you near laughed. “I always remember.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little shorter than I wanted it to be. Ah well.  
> Slight inspiration taken from today's Death Trap game.
> 
> Song quoted is Promise to the Moon by Jason Webley.

You carefully maneuvered through a jungle of wires and cables and electronics. You were slightly sick to your stomach being back here, but you were a little comforted by Mobius’s presence with you this time.

 

Separation from each other never ended well. It was good to be back together.

 

With you was not only him, but Droog. PM was with Paint and PI. Hearts, Clubs, and Spades were all together. Everyone had broken up into those groups of three, with separate missions.

 

PM, Paint, and PI were going to recover stolen items and take whatever information they could.

The three of the four members of the Crew were taking any piece of machinery that seemed important so Paint could tinker with it and see if anything was really important in it.

You, Mobius, and Droog were hunting D.O.O.M.E.D.

 

Why you three? You and Mobius had been here since D.O.O.M.E.D.’s takeover, and Droog knew WV well.

 

“I honestly think _he’ll_ find us,” said Mobius, out of the blue.

“You’ve got a point,” Droog responded with a nod.

 

As you made your way through seemingly endless tunnels and vine-like wires, Mobius had to break silence. It wasn’t uncommon of him. He sang. A lot.

 

You’d think he was insane if you didn’t love him.

 

“ _I starved my days, I’ve drowned my nights, I’ve run campaigns against the light._ ”

 

You knew this song. Droog seemed to know it too, he was humming along.

 

“ _I’ve been the liar, I let the fire die down, then shrunk back from the fight. I’ve got this feeling, this suspicion, this conviction. Something’s shifting and I’m lifting my feet to take the step._ ”

 

You thought you saw a shift in the coils, but you shook your head and continued. You were seeing things.

 

“ _I’m ready now, to let myself change colors with the leaves and let the wind come shake me down. Deliver me closer to the ground._ ”

 

“ _I made a promise to the moon,_ ” Droog sang smoothly. Huh. You’d never heard him sing. He was pretty great at it.

Mobius laughed and nudged him before he continued.

 

“ _Outside this window I see all the other boxes- box-shaped drivers, box-shaped cars, those little box-shaped lives that I could live._ ”

 

You swore you saw another movement.

 

“ _I know the shape of this room, I know these walls, I know this tune. I know I’m stalling, but I’m gonna turn the page to show me how._ ”

 

Droog made a startled sound, and both Mobius and you stopped, turning around to face him quickly. He’d gotten caught by wires, but he snapped and ripped them in no time.

 

“I’m good,” he said. “I think he’s found us though.”

“I hope he thinks we’re alone,” you muttered, barely loud enough for anyone to actually here you.

 

“Droog, you’ve got a gun, right?” Mobius asked.

Droog tossed him a pistol. “It’s loaded.”

“Great. His plating’s obviously weak, he doesn’t have much of it, and his movement’s a little rigid. We’ll be fine.”

 

He pointed the gun at the hallway ahead, and the three of you froze for a few seconds, silent. All you could hear was each other’s breathing.

 

Dead silence was broken by a roar of machinery though, and D.O.O.M.E.D. leaping at the three of you practically out of nowhere.

A gunshot rang throughout the passageway, and you froze once you felt a horrible pain.

 

“Shit!” yelled Mobius. D.O.O.M.E.D. laughed. You looked at the android, noticing he was different, better, more well made. His design allowed more movement, although he had blue wires sticking from a few scratches and joints.

A slight dent was in his chest plating now. The bullet hadn’t hit him, but it bounced.

 

And hit you.

 

As you realized this, your vision blurred, and you hit the floor.

  
“Game over.”


	8. Chapter 8

You woke up with a horrid pain in your lower chest. You opened your eyes to painfully blurred vision and someone waving a tiny clawed hand in front of your face.

You shut your eyes again and sat up quickly, grasping the source of pain. Something hit your head and there was a tiny  _ thump! _ as someone fell backwards.

 

“Ow!” the distinctive voice of Clubs yelped. 

 

Murmuring, panicked voices turned into a single one.

 

“HK, HK. Fuck-- I’m sorry. I didn’t think--”

“Trip, knock it off. It wasn’t your fault. Hadron, lie back down. You’re not in any shape to deal with what we’re dealing with.”

Mobius and Droog. You complied with Droog and lied back down.

 

“What is everything PM and PI managed to nab anyway? Any painkillers? Fuck, I bet she’s in pain and it’s all my fault.” Mobius’s voice grew a little fainter.

“No, unfortunatel’,” Hearts said. “If we did I would’a given Paint an’ Deucey one. Cracked shells are some pretty bad shit, and Clubs already cracked his, why tha fuck make it any worse.”

 

“What--” You were cut off.

“Hadron, don’t try to talk,” said Droog. “We’re making way more noise than we should be already anyway. Mobius, try to tone your volume down or we’ll be found again. Hearts, you too. Spades, stop muttering to yourself. If you stop talking, I stop talking, and we’re all infinitely safer.”

 

They got away. Just not entirely.

You and the three other groups were still trapped, stuck in an underground maze filled with wires and tech. 

You wished you were dead instead of this.

 

Machinery shifted. Cables moved. Everyone fell dead silent and you opened your eyes again, shifting slightly to look around.

 

“You guys get out of here,” Mobius said in a slight whisper. 

You slowly sat up. PI, Paint (with a horrid looking crack in her arm), and Spades were frozen in the corner, not daring to move a single inch. PM was near Hearts and a small pile of stuff they’d found, neither of them were moving either, but PM would occasionally shift to look about a little more. Droog was standing against a wall, Mobius was near the middle of the room. Mobius didn’t leave his spot but Droog went to grab you by the arm. Clubs was sitting near you, and quickly turned to face Droog.

 

“Let’s get outta here,” the tiny Dersite said, getting up. He had a new crack near his pre-existing one, and he was trying to hide it with his hat.

Droog helped you up to your feet. You looked back to the others to see Mobius had turned around, Hearts was up on his feet, now carrying PM (to her dislike), and the trio in the corner were trying to get to the door, PI holding Paint’s hand, Spades staying close behind.

 

“Hadron, come on, let’s go--”

 

You punched Droog right in the face before he could finish his sentence, to everyone’s surprise. You took a step back, scowling.

 

“I’m staying here and facing that fucker,” you snapped, but quietly.

“You’re hurt,” Droog protested.

“Do I look like I give two shits?”

“Fine.”

 

He quickly fled out of the room, followed by the others, except you and Mobius.

Before he left though, Hearts stopped, tossing you a knife. You swiftly caught it before he walked out.

 

“Did you seriously think that was a good idea?” he said, looking at you.

“None of my ideas are good,” you responded. “I thought we had agreed on that.”

“You’re thinking wrong, then, Hadron. Your ideas are dangerous. But they work, and that makes them good.” Well, he wasn’t wrong on the dangerous part. You’d risk your life to get a task done. You could easily trick people when you put your life into your own hands. “We never agreed your ideas were bad. You did with yourself.”

 

“Well.”

There was a shift of machines and there D.O.O.M.E.D. was, almost out of thin air again.

“I’m a little surprised it’s the two lovebirds again.”

“You should’ve expected us, to be honest,” said Mobius.

“Of course,” the upgraded android said. “You’re the only two idiots brave enough to face me.”

“Was that an insult?” you said. Mobius broke into laughter.

“Anyway.”

 

D.O.O.M.E.D. took a step towards the two of you.

“Kaleido, if you drop the weapon now, I won’t do any harm. Yet. Rather, I want to try and strike a little deal with you two.”

 

You and Mobius glanced at each other.

 

“Again, dropping the knife and I won’t do a single thing.”

 

You hesitated before throwing the knife and lodging it into the wall behind you. 

 

“Or that.” You’d caught D.O.O.M.E.D. off guard. He hadn’t suspected that. You were not to be underestimated. 

 

“Okay, deals, yeah?” Mobius asked, not wanting to kill any time. He wanted to get out and away from here. It probably creeped him out more than it did you.

 

“You trade one of your lives,” He pointed two claws at the both of you. “For his.” And he motioned behind him, although there was just a wall there. But he was talking about WV.

“And if neither of us agree?” You asked.

“You both die.”

“Good shit.”

 

The two of you shared another glance. You quickly looked away though.

 

Mobius didn’t know WV all too well. You knew him more, certainly. You’d want to protect the both of them. But at what cost even? The android was being vague about it all. You didn’t want Mobius to die, and you wanted WV back.

 

You told yourself one thing. ‘ _ You’re fucking insane.’ _

 

“Why the fuck not.”

“Hadron--” Mobius looked up from the spot on the floor he was staring down at.  _ ‘See, my ideas are bad,’ _ you wanted to tell him. You both had to admit it. Your ideas were horrible and dangerous. They had such a high chance of failing.  _ ‘Then why have they never?’ _

 

You sighed. Better you than them.

 

“I always thought you’d be more hesitant than that, Kaleido,” said D.O.O.M.E.D. with a hint of amusement.

You shrugged. “I gotta pay my debts.”

The android gave a quiet chuckle. 

 

“I’ll let you find me this time, though. See you in the very center of this underground mess, say, tomorrow, noon?”

“Deal.”

“Then it is.”

 

Quickly, and this was the first time you’d see how he got about, the wall behind him opened up to reveal a new pathway, and he left through it. The walls shut back into place before either of you could make a move.

 

You walked back to the wall which you’d stuck the knife in. You grabbed the hilt and forcefully yanked it out. 

 

You turned to Mobius.

“We have to find the others,” he said.

“Yeah. They can’t be far,” you told him. You opened the door and stepped out. He followed you. You were back into the mess of electronics, and Mobius led you down the only way the tunnel led. You were unconscious while they were running away, so you didn’t know this area of the tunnels. He did, though. And he’d somehow remembered it.

It struck you as a little odd.

 

A buzz came from something. Both of you stopped, and you looked to the floor behind you. Buried in the cables was your phone, wiped except for Pesterchum. On it was a message.

 

\-- D.O.O.M.E.D. [D] began pestering obsidianTowers [OT]. --

 

D: Tell nobody or you’re dead.

D: I can hear your every word.

 

\-- D.O.O.M.E.D. [D] ceased pestering obsidianTowers [OT]. --

 

You put your phone into your Sylladex again.

 

“What was it?” asked Mobius.

“Nothing,” you lied.

He just shrugged it off and continued down the hallway.


	9. Chapter 9

You didn’t wake up as early as you thought you would. It was hard to fall asleep in the first place, but you were exhausted. Your mind was still a little troubled.

 

You woke up in the newly found safe haven. Upon sitting up, you winced at the pain in your chest. You were a little surprised that bullet didn’t actually kill you.

 

You checked your phone again. Nothing was new. Sure, he’d wiped out everything except Pesterchum, but all your old contacts and memos were there. Nothing else had been exactly important.

He hadn’t sent you any messages. You supposed he was still waiting for you. You checked the time, and your phone said it was about 11:30. You’d have to meet him in thirty minutes.

 

You got up and walked over to Mobius, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. He’d been talking to Paint and Spades, but turned to face you when you tried to get his attention. He seemed a little bit on edge. He probably just wasn’t getting enough sleep, but hell, you wouldn’t know.

It was rare to see him panicked, even in the slightest.

 

You pulled the knife Hearts had given you from your Sylladex, and handed it to him.

 

“Defend yourself if you need to,” you told him.

“Oh, thanks,” he said, looking it over quickly. Knives were not really his thing, but he was decent with one.

 

You went back to your spot and sat down without another word. You were tired. You checked your phone again. You had to see if anything was different in Pesterchum. Seemed nothing was.

 

You looked back at your pesterlog with D.O.O.M.E.D. He said he could hear you. You cautiously tapped the spot on your phone where the microphone was located.

You quickly got a response.

 

\-- D.O.O.M.E.D. [D] began pestering obsidianTowers [OT]. --

 

D: Yes, I can hear you.

D: Cut that out.

 

You laughed. Deuce saw that you were amused, and quickly came over. You put your phone down to look at him

 

“Hey Deuce.”

“Hello Hadron!” he said, with a tiny little smile.

“You doing okay?” you asked the small carapacian. “I heard you cracked your shell again.”

He gave a nod. “Paint did too.”

“What happened?”

“I heard she was tripped.”

“And you?”

“I also tripped.”

“Well.”

 

D: Oh yeah. That.

D: It was funny. Should’ve seen the look on the others’ faces.

 

You squinted at the screen, a little mad.

 

“What’re they talking about?”

“It’s nothin’,” you said, giving him a little pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry.”

He nodded and went back over to where he was sitting with Hearts. Why he worried about you, you’d never know.

 

You looked back down at your phone.

 

D: Hearts freaked out. It was great.

OT: You’re fucking cruel.

D: You’ve got that right.

 

You checked the time again.

 

OT: Noon exactly?

D: Exactly. No earlier, no later.

OT: Got it.

 

\-- D.O.O.M.E.D. [D] ceased pestering obsidianTowers [OT]. --

 

And you were left to kill time.

 

You jumped when you heard a shout from Spades.

“TRIP, SHUT THE FUCK UP.”

 

Mobius jumped back, startled as well.

 

Spades glared at him, and Paint tried to pull him back away from Mobius. Unfortunately, she couldn’t. From your point of view, it seemed a fight would break out. Mobius took a careful step back, almost.. afraid? Maybe? You could barely see his expression.

 

Spades withdrew a knife. Paint practically jumped and nudged him hard.

“DARE SAY THAT AGAIN AN’ YOU’RE FUCKIN’ DEAD!”

 

“Whoa, whoa, okay,” Mobius said, taking another step back. “We can talk it out.”

“Listen to ‘im, Spades!” said Paint.

“Knock it off, all of you!” Droog suddenly yelled from the corner of the room. “We’re trying to hide from that thing, remember.”

“He’s right on our tails anyway, Droog,” snapped Spades. “He wants to kill all of us, we’ve established that.”

 

 _‘Seemingly wants to torture you guys more,’_ you wanted to say. _‘Judging his last texts.’_

Or maybe he just enjoys seeing others in pain in general. Whatever it was, it made you near sick at the thought.

 

“We can still try to shut him down, but not like this,” Droog said, trying to sound calm again. You could hear the slightest bit of anger. “A plan for now? We can get Paint and Deuce out since they’re injured. Then we can continue trying to hunt down D.O.O.M.E.D. and shut him down to avoid any more injuries.”

“Or possible deaths,” said Mobius.

“Possible.”

 

You lost interest in the conversation fast. For some reason it felt like you’d given up on really doing anything. Figuring out why was something that’d take you a while. You were normally willing and ready for anything. Your guard was up constantly.

You were probably just tired.

 

Around 11:50, Droog had decided to drag you and Mobius on a patrol. He was still trying to locate D.O.O.M.E.D. You know what he wanted.

Revenge.

Just like PM did. And Paint. And yourself.

 

You actually questioned if you truly wanted revenge for a second.

It was a strange feeling. Your hand moved back to the spot on your chest where you were shot.

This was more pure rage than wanting revenge for a dead friend.

And regret hit you hard.

 

Mobius had been going the opposite direction you needed to head. You had about 3 minutes left.

Oh god, how would you get away with this? Do you just break out in a run? No, there were wires everywhere. You’d trip and fall.

You have to convince them not to come with you.

 

Maybe you should just confess. No, you’d probably die for that.

How come you couldn’t come up with something?

 

Fine. You’d run.

With that, you turned, unexpectedly, and bolted. It was unlikely the other two could catch up to you.

 

“Hadron!” Mobius yelled at you, startled. Droog jumped, and tried to grab you, but you were too fast. You just kept running, not looking back.

 

You were wary of the wires, dodging and weaving around ones hanging from the ceiling while you watched your step. You swore you saw a few wires move aside for you, but in weird spots.

Maybe D.O.O.M.E.D. was testing your reaction time while not getting you hurt.

Maybe he actually wanted to keep you alive.

 

You approached what you believed was the middle. The jungle of wires was certainly thicker in this area, especially around the room in the center. It happened to be made of concrete, just like the rest of the tunnels. It was certainly thicker, though, and had the thinnest cuts in the wall for windows.

 

You peered through one, squinting.

 

It was very dark, except for a soft seafoam glow coming from D.O.O.M.E.D.

You only now noticed a thick wire connecting from his lower back head to between his shoulder blades. It seemed to be like a central nerve, and even underneath his plating, emitted a glow.

 

He was talking to somebody, and his the light from his optics were illuminated a black face, that of a dog’s. You knew who it was.

Bec Noir.

 

“Just don’t do anything until I say so. I’ve got everything covered,” D.O.O.M.E.D. was explaining.

“Kill ‘em all, then, and let me get some myself! I don’t like this waitin’ thing,” Noir snapped.

“Well you’re gonna have to be patient if you want to get anywhere with this. I want them dead much more than you do, Noir. You’ve got to think about that quickly.”

 

Noir growled. He barked loudly at D.O.O.M.E.D., but the android didn’t flinch, and in fact, seemed completely indifferent to it. He sparked green out of anger.

 

“Speaking of getting somewhere, I have someone to meet. I suggest you leave.”

 

Noir teleported out in a flash of bright lime, and you had to step back and shut your eyes tight to recover from the flash.

When you blinked them back open and looked up, you saw D.O.O.M.E.D. He’d opened a panel and stepped out.

 

You at least finally saw how he got about, and how he was so agile. The wires shifted around him, so it was as if there were no cables at all in the maze. He had no fear of falling or stumbling. They were at his command.

He had no worries.

 

“Kaleido,” he greeted you, and you think he’d smirk if he could. His intentions weren’t going to be good, you knew it. He’d kill you when he ever got the chance, you bet. And that chance was now.

Like a chess piece in the position to be captured.

 

“How can you possibly bring back WV?” you asked. You knew revival was possible. But how could an android living in an underground maze do it?

 

“Oh,” he laughed. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

You scowled at him. You didn’t trust him. You never would.

 

“You get WV back first and then I go with you. It was a trade. That was the deal.”

“I never said I’d get him back immediately. You’re a fool, Kaleido.”

“I accepted that as a fact many years ago.”

 

There was a few seconds of pure silence, then D.O.O.M.E.D. chuckled.

 

“You’ll do anything for anybody you trust. The Queen, the Crew, Trip, even someone as unimportant as WV. That’s what’s so interesting about you, Hadron. Nobody else wants to risk their life for another as much as you.”

 

He walked back into the dark room, and you followed cautiously. You had the choice to run, to get back at that second he turned his back to you, yes, but you wanted to save WV.

 _‘Anything for a friend,’_ you’d promised at one point, god knows when. And anything meant anything.

 

That meant anything for WV.

 

You’d risk dooming your session, sure, but you’d make it out. You had your own tricks.

 

The panels slammed shut. You jumped at the loud sound it produced.

It was near pitch black. Some light filtered through the spaces in the walls. It wasn’t enough to illuminate the center of the room, though. It looked much bigger on the inside. The only wires were on the ceiling and in the corners of the space. None came from the wall or the floor.

It was strange, to say the least.

 

“Funny you’d want to get Vagabond back,” D.O.O.M.E.D. said.

“Helping citizens is in my job description, D.O.O.M.E.D. Did you forget about that?”

“He’s not a citizen, Kaleido. He’s an Exile.”

“I don’t fucking care. He’s a friend. I’ve known him for a while and he helped me out when Trip wasn’t around.”

“You make a fair point. But it’s something like Death would tell you. It seems an unfair trade.”

“On my part, it’s a bad move.”

“On your part. Speaking of which..”

 

You found again that the android was incredibly faster than yourself. You were pinned to the wall yet again, knife pressed against the pre-existing scab on your neck.

 

“Where were we?”


	10. Chapter 10

You actually managed to kick the android this time, but it hurt you instead of him. The fuck kind of metal was he made out of?

Just for that, he cut your neck lightly with the knife.

 

“Do you honestly think you’re going to get anywhere with that?” D.O.O.M.E.D. said.

 

If you had a weapon on you, you swore he’d be dead by now. But you’d given the knife you had to Mobius. It was always better you than him.

 

“What’s your motive for trying to kill all of us, even?” you asked, keeping your voice calm, despite your panic.

“You guys are useless. Game constructs, meant for war. Doomed to die. Since when could you have any importance?”

 

No, no, no, no,  _ no _ . You weren’t a game construct. You were a player. You weren’t ‘programmed’ like carapacians were. You never would be.

 

“And even you, a player of the game, have fallen into place with them. Look at you, Kaleido. You act like one. Hell, you even identify as one from time to time. You were raised like one for years.”

“My differences were recognized plenty of times. I’m weaker, more flexible, and I tend to be more agile. Plus. Flight.”

“It’s strange that a Dreamer would become an Agent. Why drop in rank?”

“I wanted to help.”

“And one which much potential just became one of the many.”

 

That hit you hard. Anger grew in you, and you threw a punch. D.O.O.M.E.D. acted fast, shoving you aside.

 

“You could’ve been a lot. But instead, you practically transformed into a carapace. Luckily,” There was suspicious amusement in his voice. “Not physically.”

 

He darted at you again, stabbing you right in the shoulder. You could tell that knife was a carapacian blade, made for stabbing through shell, not skin. You could tell just by the amount of pain alone.

You were lucky. This wasn’t like so many years ago, when Jack Noir had hit an artery on you with the same movement. You hung on to life by a single thread.

The android didn’t hit any major organs or veins. But the pain was horrid.

 

You staggered backwards, clutching the bleeding wound on your shoulder tightly. You were blinded with pain. Your ears were ringing. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt.

You swore you’d kill him for all of this.

 

You didn’t detect him move close to you again, but you did hear a muffled laugh.

 

“You’re fragile. You’ve always had such a big disadvantage on a place like Derse. Violence is common, and you are much weaker than a carapacian would ever be.”

 

You threw another punch blindly, and he merely sliced your arm.

 

You were losing a lot more blood than you’d originally expected. You had to sit down because of the pain. You open your eyes, and it was just a dark blur. You shut them again.

 

He pressed the knife against your chest. You froze.

“One more move and you’re dead,” he said.

 

Did he honestly not want to kill you?

_ ‘No, no, shut up and fucking kill me,’ _ you thought.

 

“You could’ve been much more than you are now. You could’ve saved your family. You could’ve saved your Land. You could have never become an Agent and have never been separated from Mobius. You could’ve ascended by now and avoided all of this. But you didn’t, did you? While I admire your bravery, you’re a fool.”

 

He sliced at your neck again with the knife.

 

Maybe this was your fault. If you’d only played the game instead of going off on a tangent, then none of this would’ve happened. You would’ve stayed in-game with Mobius and probably have ascended to Godhood. You would’ve never met the Crew, WV, PM, Paint, Problem Sleuth and his friends, the Royals, the Dreamers, any of them.

Maybe it would’ve been best if you never became an Agent.

 

_ ‘No,’  _ you told yourself.  ‘ _ He’s lying. You’re lying.’ _

 

You were much more than what he was saying you were. Yes, you strived to fix the timeline, and yes, you were probably the reason stuff went to hell. But you’d do anything for those close to you. Pitch or red, friend or stranger. 

Saving others was your forte.

 

And that’s what you intended to do.

 

You weren’t here to fall for this piece of scrap metal’s lousy attempts at trying to fuck with your mind. You were here to save WV.

If you even could.

 

He tried to stab you again, but you ducked shiftly. You tried to elbow him in where you expected on of his joints were, but you missed and almost lost your balance. Your vision was blurred, but it’d have to work for now.

 

You kicked at the android’s ankles, and he swung the knife through the air, trying to hit you. You dodged and landed on the floor. You quickly rolled away before he could hurt you again.

 

You must’ve been noisy, because next thing you knew, someone shouted your name from behind one of the spaces in the wall.

Droog.

 

The second you expected a knife to be lodged in your throat, there wasn’t. Instead, it was Droog’s surprisingly good aim preventing exactly that. One knife flying from the narrowest crack in the wall hit another that was nearly swung right at you. Both knives fell to the ground with a  _ clatter!  _ You were fast enough to snatch both.

 

The tables had turned.

You tried to stab at open spots, trying to cut at any wire you could get to. The android was painfully speedy though. He dodged all of your swings, trying to use his sharp metal claws to scratch at you.

 

You took a stab to an open spot on his arm, but missed. D.O.O.M.E.D. slashed at you, getting his claws stuck in your lower right arm. You pulled away to escape it and any blows he’d throw your way, and got four long gashes from your attempt to escape.

 

You stumbled back dropping the knives. You looked back at the slots in the walls, only to see the dark figure of Droog was gone. Where’d he go?

 

In just about a millisecond, you were knocked to the floor by D.O.O.M.E.D. and ended up winded. You felt around for a knife, grabbed one, and lodged it into the android’s upper thigh.

 

He took a step back, wincing at whatever amount of stimulated pain you gave him with the swift movement. He sparked a little while you got to your feet. The second you locked eyes, he scowled at you, pulling the knife out of his leg and sparking a little more from the wound. You gave your signature smug smile before going to grab the other knife.

 

He tried to stab you at this exact moment, but you dropped and rolled away from him, only to hurt yourself a little more than you already were.

Your head was starting to spin again, and you could only defend yourself at this point. You got several more cuts and scratches from trying to protect yourself with a knife alone.

 

There were footsteps, and the bot actually paused to look around for a little. You braced yourself, to his confusion, for something much more than a knife. You knew who was coming to get you, and you knew one in particular had a trick up his sleeve.

 

Or, rather, a bomb in his hat.

 

An explosion was what you expected, and an explosion was what you got. It was larger than you expected, but again, that’s what Clubs and the entirety of the Crew were about. Big and loud.

 

While Hearts and Spades went to distract D.O.O.M.E.D., Droog offered you a hand to help you up. He said something, about how you looked terrible and were covered in blood. It was all really fuzzy to you, just a blur. He told you the others had split up in the maze for now, looking for stuff to try and break down D.O.O.M.E.D. and the system he seemed to have created. He went on to say that you should probably take a break, which you only gave a nod to.

 

Spades yelled something incomprehensible and Hearts just gave a noise of anger. You squinted their way, to see D.O.O.M.E.D. wasn’t even there anymore. Droog set you down on the floor, and you leaned against the wall, feeling like you were going to black out again.

 

Deuce came over and sat down next to you. He explained you’d be okay, everything would be fine, and that they should probably get Miss Paint over here. He pat you lightly on your good arm, trying to reassure you. You didn’t doubt him that stuff would be okay. Stuff always became okay, whether it took centuries or seconds. 

 

He went on to ramble about how he wished stuff was normal again. He wanted to go back to doing raids and hanging with the Crew and how you could go back to working on Derse and making music and some other things. His voice faded as you found yourself drifting off to sleep.

 

Once he noticed this, he got up, pat you gently on the head with a smile, and walked off to Hearts.

You supposed going to sleep would be your best decision of the day. Instead of trying to stay up, you fell asleep. Best you recover.


	11. Chapter 11

“Disappeared like fuckin’ that.” You barely listened to Hearts. Your mind was foggy and in a spin. You couldn’t exactly focus, and for a second you thought Hearts would just put you to sleep again. There was something in his voice that wasn’t calming like Droog’s or Mobius’s, but different. In a good way. You supposed you weren’t the only person who could sense it. Deuce had fallen asleep leaning up against him.

 

You’d never heard it in Hearts’s voice before, admittedly. Maybe it was just that he sounded tired. You were tired too. It'd been exhausting lately.

You didn't focus on Hearts's spiel too much, only catching that everyone had split up for some unknown period of time and some were alone, and that Mobius had likely lost Droog in the maze.

 

You took out your phone as Spades stepped in. Honestly, you didn’t want to deal with him.

 

\-- obsidianTowers [OT] began pestering pickleInspector [PI]. --

 

OT: sup.

PI: are you okay, miss kaleido?

PI: paint had left me for a while to check on you.

OT: nah.

PI: oh dear.

PI: certainly it wasn't that bad!

OT: of course it wasn't.

OT: been through worse.

OT: i'm just tired.

OT: and maybe in shock.

OT: don't worry about me i'll be okay.

OT: how are you doin?

PI: i'm doing well. we have some clues to what d.o.o.m.e.d.'s planning.

OT: that's good.

PI: we have gotten a little lost in this maze though.

PI: we hope we can find somebody eventually.

OT: just keep tryin, i bet you'll be fine.

 

You tended to be wrong when you said that.

 

OT: i can't focus to well so i'm gonna go.

OT: got business to tend to.

 

\-- obsidianTowers [OT] ceased pestering pickleInspector [PI]. --

 

BQ would be confused by something quick and ended abruptly, and she'd ask you what was going on, but you were simply too exhausted to answer questions. You'd probably be for a while.

You'd be fine though, even if it was fast and you wouldn't respond. The Queen could catch when something wasn't right, and she knew when to leave you be about things. Mutual respect, hard work, and a pale relationship paid off.

 

\-- obsidianTowers [OT] began pestering blackQueen [BQ]. --

 

OT: apologies for my absence.

OT: i should be gone for a while. important matters.

 

\-- obsidianTowers [OT] ceased pestering blackQueen [BQ]. --

 

You set your phone down, sighing loudly.

 

“Kaleido, yer in shock,” Hearts told you. “We gotta get goin’ though, you think you can walk?”

“Maybe,” you muttered.

“Come on.”

 

He poked Deuce awake, got up, and grabbed you by the arm, helping you to your feet.

“If you gotta balance on me, go ahead.”

“No, I’ll be fine.”

“Yer runnin’ a fever. Be careful.”

You nodded silently.

 

“You guys ready to move someplace else now?” Droog asked.

“What, were you impatient?” Hearts said. Clubs quietly giggled.

“No, I’m just concerned about Hadron.”

“You got no good reason to be," you said.

"You feelin' pale for her or some shit, Droog?"

"No," Droog said, and by the slight red growing on his face, it was suggested that maybe he had stronger feelings towards you. "I fucking hate her."

"So yer pitch."

"I can neither confirm nor deny that statement."

"Droog's gotta hatecrush, Droog's gotta hatecrush!" chimed Deuce. Spades quietly chuckled in the corner of the room.

 

One of the pros of being around the Crew was that they could make light of dark situations. Their personalities were perfect enough to. Having lived alongside them for many years, you enjoyed most of what they did. Roughhousing, the occasional fight, a decent adrenaline rush, and of course, the odd-two-out, music and on occasion, some fluff.

Here, though, you kinda had to pretend you didn't have a hatecrush for Droog (and thank fuck the feeling was mutual) and avoided blushing as well. Only Mobius could make you blush. Only him. Nobody else. Why was Droog managing to?

 

You cursed at yourself under your breath.

 

In a few minutes, you were outside in the maze again. You somewhat cowered behind Hearts, afraid of something. Of what, though? You couldn’t put a word to it.

 

It was irrational, being afraid of something you can’t describe. Wasted your time and emotionally exhausted a person. But you were already emotionally exhausted, such a fear couldn’t hurt. It just went with your other worries in the end. It was a constant adrenaline rush. You’d grown used to it.

This wouldn’t hurt.

 

“Kaleido.”

Hearts stopped you in your tracks, breaking your daze. You blinked quickly and looked up at him, following his gaze down the hall.

 

PM was walking towards the five of you, sword in her hands. She stopped a few feet from Droog and pointed the blade right between his eyes. You almost jumped to do something, anything, but you caught yourself. 

 

“You got us into this mess,” hissed PM. Something was off in her voice. “You brought us back here and now you’re leaving us for dead.”

 

She stepped forward suddenly, making Droog get shoved back and almost lose his balance.

 

“She’s not acting right,” whispered Deuce. “Box.” The smaller carapacian glanced up at Hearts. “What do we do?”

“Fuck, I don’t know. Let’s avoid any trouble for now, okay?” Hearts said, reaching to hold Deuce’s hand.

“No, no, she should be okay,” Spades said. Was that panic in his voice?

 

“You’re going to get us killed, Droog.”

PM tried to stab Droog, who dropped to the floor to avoid injury. You and Clubs jumped in fear, and you pulled your knife from your Sylladex. Droog withdrew his pistol, aiming it at PM.

 

The two got into a fight. PM, for unknown reasons, repeatedly tried to stab and cut Droog, slashing at him. Droog finally had enough and fired.

 

PM fell to the floor.

Dead.

 

“No! No! Goddammit Droog!” yelled Spades. “Fuckin’-- ugh! God fuckin’ dammit! Droog, I--”

“She was out of her mind, boss. Calm down,” Droog said.

“No, she was fuckin’ fine! She was fuckin’ fine! Fuck! Fuck.” Spades sighed loudly. “I never got to say-- uuuugh!”

“Spades, she wasn’t okay, she tried to kil--”

“DROOG! I WAS PALE FOR HER, GODDAMMIT!”

 

The two dropped into a silence. Spades couldn’t cry, but it looked like he’d be if he could.

 

“Look, I’m sorry, it had to be done. She was going to kill me, Spades.”

“No, ugh, fine. Fine. It’s fine. Let’s just- go back. I can’t deal with this shit right now.”

“Fine, if you say so.”

 

You walked back, Spades trailing behind this time, instead of you. You had to duck under Heart’s arm, but you dropped back to walk alongside Spades. He stared at the floor with a blank expression.

 

“You okay?” you asked.

“No, I’m fuckin’ not. Now go ahead, Kaleido. Leave me alone.”

  
You complied, and trailed behind Hearts and Deuce once again.


	12. Chapter 12

 While the Crew was asleep, you snuck out. The labyrinth was dangerous, yes, but you went out regardless. You'd stare into the face of death if you got the chance at this rate. 

Perhaps you'd locked eyes with it before.

 

A buzz from your phone reminded you to silence it. As you retrieved it, you lowered its volume.

 

\-- D.O.O.M.E.D. [D] began pestering obsidianTowers [OT]. --

 

D: That was all really interesting.

D: Despite the Crew's warnings, here you are.

D: Are you typically this brave?

OT: I wouldn't call it bravery.

OT: If anything, it's curiosity.

D: Curiosity killed the cat.

OT: But satisfaction brought it back.

 

His little pause made you grin. He took a minute to respond.

 

D: Are you sure you're not just plain dumb?

OT: I know I am. 

OT: My level of idiocy is off the charts, I just hide it well.

D: I can imagine the sarcasm in your voice.

OT: Oh I got a hell lot of it.

D: Shameless as norm, Kaleido.

OT: Smug more than shameless.

D: But whatever you can take pride in you don't regret.

OT: That's a lie. I regret a few of the things I take pride in.

D: Doesn't actually seem we know each other all too well then.

 

You didn’t respond, only continued your little trek through the hallways. You occasionally looked down at your phone, listening to him ramble.

 

D: Where are you even headed?

D: You could be walking into your death for all you know.

D: You saw Peregrine yesterday.

D: Can’t that happen to you?

 

He had a point. You just chose to ignore it.

 

You stopped walking when you heard a shift of wires.

 

OT: Are you plotting something?

 

There was a pause.

 

D: Maybe.

 

You took several cautious steps, taking out your knife and twirling it inbetween your fingers.

 

D: Fancy blade you got there Kaleido.

OT: Shut the fuck up.

 

Something out of the corner of your eye moved violently. Wires. You spun around, slicing right through them. You left them sparking.

 

D: Aww, you’re no fun.

 

\-- obsidianTowers [OT] ceased pestering D.O.O.M.E.D. [D]. --

 

You couldn’t deal with him right now. You couldn’t deal with anybody. Your head hurt. You sighed and closed your eyes, leaning against a wall. He could see your every move down here in the tunnels. You wanted to be back home on Derse. If you even did return, you’d have a lot of work to do. No matter.

But, for once in your life, you were homesick.

 

You got back up, shaking the feeling off. It was a waste of your time. You continued down the hall, knife still at hand, in case he tried to pull any more tricks.

 

Something moved from down the hall, in a run. It almost smacked into you, but it managed to stop in its tracks as you spun around to face it. You had raised the knife to have the sharper edge of the blade at its neck.

You only lowered the knife when you locked with eyes that were simply too familiar.

 

Mobius staggered backwards. “Whoa, whoa, HK! Sorry to scare you!” he said, a little grin spreading across his face. He was happy to see you, as norm.

“No, it’s fine, you didn’t scare me. I’m just on edge,” you said, pulling him into a hug, careful not to cut him with the knife. “Where have you been?”

“Looking for WV.” Wasn’t he dead? Eh, no matter.

 

Mobius slightly frowned when you pulled out of the hug.

“Hadron, you’re warm. Are you sick?”

“Hearts says I’ve got a fever. I don’t know. I got pretty beat up yesterday.”

“Shit, I’m sorry I didn’t find you. I lost Droog in the maze and didn’t know where he went.”

“You’re forgetting stuff left and right, aren’t you? Shit. I gotta kill someone for this, I fucking bet.”

He pat you on the shoulder and planted a kiss right on your forehead. You swore you turned bright red. Trip was unpredictable sometimes.

 

“No, you don’t. Don’t worry about it.”

“Fine. Whatever you say.”

 

There was a buzz from your phone, but you chose to ignore it.

“What is it?” Mobius asked. You shook your head. You didn’t care. Probably the Queen asking you what was up, why you were gone.

“Hey, I think I should go back to the Crew. Are you coming?”

“Hm, no. I have a bad feeling about all of this, Hadron. I want to find out a bit about it. You should stay with them, you’re in no shape to do anything.”

“I’ve been in worse,” you said. “I know,” Mobius responded with a sigh.

“I’ll be fine, though,” he reassured you.

 

There was a little pause.

 

“Promise you’ll show up again, though?” you asked.

“Promise.”

 

You went your separate ways again, and you felt your homesickness grow by a lot. Or, maybe it wasn’t just homesickness.

 

You swore separation was going to be the thing that killed you.

 

You walked back into the room the Crew chose to stay in. You stepped silently over to and set yourself down next to Droog. You checked your phone quickly, expecting a message from the Queen, but that wasn’t what you got.

 

\-- D.O.O.M.E.D. [D] began pestering obsidianTowers [OT]. --

 

D: That’s weird.

D: How’s he know?

D: I gotta get him again, huh.

 

\-- D.O.O.M.E.D. [D] ceased pestering obsidianTowers [OT]. --

 

You cursed under your breath, and Droog somewhat stirred. You kept yourself from jumping and shut off your phone. You set it down and tried to get some sleep.

You blocked everything in your mind out, and within a time period that felt like several hours, you dozed off.


	13. Chapter 13

You woke up to quite the startle. Droog elbowed you right in the gut, and got up right before you could throw a punch at him. You stood up, rubbing your eyes quickly. Your vision focused to see that Paint was here, sobbing and clinging onto Spades. Spades was doing his best to calm her down, whispering softly to her. You followed Droog to Hearts, who was standing nearby.

 

“What the hell happened?” he asked. Hearts inhaled sharply.

“Came in cryin’, said Pickle was dead,” the larger carapacian told the two of you. You flinched. 

“This is worse than we thought, isn’t it..” Droog said with a sigh. He glanced down at you. “Things can only get worse.”

You’d reassure him stuff would be fine normally, but you had a feeling. Maybe it wouldn’t. You could be wrong. Stuff would get worse. Your best efforts to try and save the others would fail.

You’d end up like them, worse case scenario.

 

You played something over in your head,  ‘My ideas are dangerous.’ Something you’d said a while ago. You lost track of time. Did time even matter at this point? Of course it mattered. You just blocked it out somehow. It’s like for, maybe, just a while, the flow of time didn’t exist. For once, it felt like you didn’t need to depend on it.

 

“Paint, look,” Spades was telling the Prospitian. It was strange to hear his voice like that. But then again, this was Paint, and he had probably the biggest crush you’d ever seen a Dersite have before. “I’m real sorry. There’s nothin’ we can do though. Not now.”

He glanced at you four quickly before straightening up, breaking their hug. Paint wiped tears from her face, but just started to cry harder.

 

“Paint,” Spades said with some hesitation. “Don’t worry,” you said, stepping over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. You were surprised he didn’t throw it off. “I’ll get her.”

He paused and nodded. “Thanks Kaleido.”

 

You took Paint’s hand and lead her over to the corner, sitting down with her. The Crew resumed their usual commotion, though their voices were hushed.

“Who killed him?” you asked Paint, dropping your voice to a whisper.

“Bec Noir,” she said, trembling slightly. You shut your eyes to kill a headache and pat her gently.

“We’ll be okay, you got that?” you said, finally opening your eyes again, looking at her. She gave a little nod. “I do sacrifice myself for others plenty already," Maybe a little too much, she thought, "But of course, I am going to keep you safe. For as long as I can, okay?"

Paint gave another small nod.

You touched her arm lightly, letting her now she wasn't alone. She was cold to the touch, something a Prospitian shouldn't be, judging how warm the golden moon was. But then again, Paint hadn't been to any version of it in years, and hers was long destroyed.

"If you ever need me, I'm here."

"Thank you, Hadron."

You patted her and left.

 

After a short little nap- part of which you faked so you could blame punching Droog a few times on a dream- you wondered if you could head outside to try and find Mobius again. D.O.O.M.E.D.'s last text sent chills down your spine. You worried for him, and cursed yourself for not having come along with him. You couldn't believe you ignored that message, left him behind like that. You keep your guard down for a split second, and that's what you get. Your fault.

Paint walked up to you, catching you by surprise. "You look distressed, Hadron. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," you lied.

"Whatever you say." The small Prospitian said, somewhat defeatedly. She knew you were lying, and perhaps that you didn't want to talk about it. If she pushed for the truth, typically, she'd have a blade against her neck, but this was Paint. Nothing could bring you to harm a single plate of shell on her body.

Maybe you’d wait a day to find him. He could manage on his own.

 

Your mind drifted elsewhere, as it typically did. You’d find yourself in dazes so many times. You were almost entranced by your own thought process. Visions were usually a thing. But for you, visions weren’t strange. You had PTSD for one, and your flashbacks didn’t just happen while you were awake. Then there was Skaia. You’d been on it so much you that it’d given you dazzling dreams. Or maybe it was Mobius and not Skaia. You didn’t know how Space players’ powers worked.

 

You had started to doze off when Spades quite literally pounced on Droog. You didn’t get to full alert until you saw the smaller of the two have a knife at the other’s neck. This got everyone else’s attention. You motioned for Paint to stay put where she was. You didn’t want her to get harmed, especially now. The two began to wrestle, Spades having the upper hand with the blade. There was a loud “YOU KILLED HER!” from Spades, probably pissed about PM. After a few minutes, Spades just stopped. He rolled over onto the floor, flinging the knife away from him.

 

“Shit,” he muttered. “I think I’m loosin’ my mind.”

“It’s quite evident,” Droog said, trying to hide an obvious wheeze in his voice as he sat back up. He had gotten several cuts.

“That’s kind of like what happened to PM!” Deuce pointed out. You threw a glance at Hearts, who shrugged.

“He makes a point,” you said quietly.

“It’s like a disease,” Paint said. "First it infected PM, now Spades." Her expression was that of worry. "Maybe we can fix it?"

"Maybe," Hearts muttered. You knew what he was thinking.

 

Hearts and Deuce couldn't change their minds easily. It took work to change their point of view, and you meant more work than you did in the typical week's time. They normally required fights, risky deals, and some negotiation, and it normally caused things to go haywire. You could read their emotions and thoughts well, all because of their expressions and their tone of voice. You couldn't read people like Droog well, though. Droog hid his emotions behind calm, similarly to you (or, at least, you tried). Right now, Hearts in particular was thinking this was bad, that Spades had to leave to keep things stable. And if Hearts thought it, Deuce thought it. They were a stubborn hivemind. 

You could see their reasoning. They didn't want anyone to get hurt. But you worried for Spades. Oddly, you found feelings of worry and sympathy pop up out of the blue for him. God, it was weird. You typically avoided the guy, and you were barely friends. You were merely former co-workers from different universes. 

Then why'd you want to protect him?

 

In your mind, you called yourself insane and every existing synonym of it.

 

Spades seemed to catch on to their thoughts. Paint wanted him to state, for her to keep him safe and care for him, but that didn't seem like it was going to happen.

 

"I can leave," said Spades, with the slightest bit of hesitation. You didn't comment due to an oncoming headache. You saw him glance up at Hearts, and down to Deuce. "Seems ta be the best thing to do. Don't wanna hurt you guys at all." With that, he glanced at the little, nervous Paint.

 

"It's your decision," said Droog, and Paint hesitantly gave a tiny nod.  "Where do you want to end up?"

 

The labyrinth was a bad place to be. A punishment worse than exile, you suddenly felt. The thought sent shivers down your spine. How were you sure it was terrible? D.O.O.M.E.D. kept snagging people, you knew it somewhere deep inside of you. And if not D.O.O.M.E.D., then Bec Noir. They'd die or go insane at their hands. 

 

Before you could stop him, Spades turned and left. The words you were about to say, or more likely yell, seemed to just fall from the air, hit the floor, and shatter like glass, because Paint was quickly by your side, concerned, because what the hell kind of noise did you just produce?

  
You didn't sleep that night.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mobius's point of view, written by The Voting Queen/Courageinabox: http://archiveofourown.org/works/4925911

In the morning (or, what you thought was the morning), you’d left with Paint, searching around the maze. You made sure Paint didn’t get any more hurt than she was. She’d seemed a little on edge since she lost PI. You worried for her. But then again, you worried for a lot of people.

 

“Hadron?” she asked. You glanced at her. “What happened to you? I mean, while everyone was split up?”

You forced yourself not to laugh. “It’s probably a long story, I’m not really sure.”

“I’m okay with long stories. Honestly.”

“You wouldn’t like the story though.”

“I won’t like it, but I still want to hear it.”

You sighed. She made a point.

“Fine.”

 

You told her everything, every little detail. You remembered it all with picture perfect clarity. You usually remembered whatever fight you’d gotten into, big or small. It made for decent explanations for injuries that prevented you from working. She winced at your description several times.

 

You ended with a simple, “I knew you wouldn’t like it.”

Paint sighed. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Hadron.”

“It’s fine, Paint.”

 

There was a short pause in your conversation as you crept through the halls.

Paint broke the silence by telling her story.

 

“When I left with PI, we planned to look for whatever was useful to us. We thought we’d found something late last night, and Bec Noir just swooped in to kill him while he was distracted.”

“A trap,” you said, looking over at Paint again. She was on the verge of tears. You wanted to help, but how? Thoughts tumbled through your mind, but you couldn’t settle on a way to make her feel any better. This is what happened when somebody lost a friend. You’d been in her shoes before. 

 

There was a rustle from down one of the turns. It interrupted your thoughts, causing you to look up and around.

“Paint, Hadron!” Mobius called from down the hall. “Hey!”

 

_ ‘Oh, thank god,’  _ you thought.  ‘ _ He’s not dead.’ _

 

“Mobius!” Paint said, perking up, smile spreading on her face. She hadn’t started crying. Good. “You’re okay!”

“Hell, I thought you were dead,” you said.

“I’m not, I’m not,” Mobius said, giving a little laugh. “Don’t worry.”

“Are you okay?” you asked him. He’d been gone for a long while.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he replied.

“That’s good,” said Paint. “We should get you back to the others.”

You nodded with Paint’s statement. “I’ve been worried.” You were still worried. “I’m glad you’re okay.” You didn’t believe that he was okay.

 

He looked really scratched up and seemed exhausted, but he didn’t lack his enthusiasm. At first you thought it was a Prospitian thing, to be unnaturally happy, but then you thought again.

 

“Can you remember anything at all?”

Mobius shook his head. “I can’t seem to remember a thing from the past two days.”

Your expression obviously changed dramatically, because he then asked, “Hadron, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” you lied. “I’m just.. thinking.”

 

D.O.O.M.E.D. was doing something and it was practically zapping Mobius’s memory from him. He never forgot that much at one time. He typically at least had a clear memory of the week, but forgetting events that occurred two days ago? That was weird, and it was driving you insane. Your mind became a flurry of panic, although you forced yourself to not show it. It was a technique you perfected from working with the Queen. Obvious panic drew unnecessary and embarrassing attention.

 

“I got lost,” he said. Now that confused you. He’d memorized the maze beforehand. “Forgot how the maze went.”

“How could you forget it?” Paint almost exclaimed. “We need someone to know how to get about!”

You wanted to cut her off, say what was in your mind. You couldn’t even describe it, though. You needed a break, maybe a moment alone with Mobius, just to say what was on your mind. People wouldn’t listen to you if you were in a group.

 

“Do you remember anything about going around, at least?” you asked. “Maybe something about D.O.O.M.E.D.? Anything from the past two days?”

He stopped, searching through his mind for something, anything. “Pain,” he finally said.

 

You were going to murder that android.

 

“Where?” asked Paint. This was her field. “Do you know?”

“My head,” said Mobius. “I think it was just a headache.”

Paint pondered for a minute quietly. She glanced at you. “Brainwashing, maybe? He knew the maze at one point, right?”

“Yeah,” you said, pausing. Maybe she was right.

Mobius shrugged. “It could’ve been anything.”

 

Conversation continued briefly, but you weren’t focusing. 

You headed back, and you went quickly to finding a way to kill some time. Hearts was out exploring, he’d be back at any time. Maybe he could find Spades. Maybe Spades had found  more passages in the tunnels, Mobius had mentioned he had, but you weren’t listening to that conversation. You were too wrapped up in your own thoughts to be listening to anything. So everyone left you alone. You preferred it like that.

 

You had needed a breather and a moment to just think. Thank god you’d gotten it. You weren’t having visions of other verses now, though. That was a little strange, but you didn’t mind. It was somewhat a good feeling to have those thoughts out of your head, even if just for a little while. Less reason to worry about your alternates. They didn’t matter, you couldn’t help them. What mattered now was this universe at this time. What mattered now was your universe and your friends’.

 

Hearts walked in, cutting in on Droog and Deuce’s greeting with “I have some bad news.”

Oh no, more bad news. You’ve already had too much of it. Hopefully when you went home stuff wouldn’t have gone haywire. If you were able to go home.

Paint seemed to shiver. She didn’t want anymore bad news either.

 

“What is it, then?” asked Droog. “Say it quick, we don’t want to have anything kept secret from us anymore.”

He glanced at you. What, was he accusing you of something? Okay, fine, maybe you were a little notorious for lying. Just a little, though.

 

Hearts glanced over at Deuce, then Paint.

“Spades is dead. Saw ‘is corpse near the middle of the place."

 

Paint froze up, trying to avoid a meltdown. Clubs curled up and began to quietly sob. Droog hid emotion well, so you didn't know if he was sad or not. Mobius and you shared glances, and you looked away with a quiet sigh. You wish you knew Spades better, then you’d be able to mourn his death. But you couldn’t bring yourself to it.

You weren’t sad, you were tired.

 

You leaned back against the wall as the room fell quiet again, except for the occasional  _ hic _ from Deuce. You then realized how much pain you were in. You’d push through it, no matter.

 

This place was starting to drive you crazy. You were away from home, away from the only place you felt safe, away from sky and stars and the bustle of Dersite city life. You just wanted to go home and sleep. Being knocked out a few times and having short periods of actual sleeping wasn’t good enough, and likely was also bad for your health. 

The Queen wouldn’t mind. She’d be able to tell you were hurt, and even if she couldn’t, you’d tell her the whole story, without lying. It was better to be honest with her and face any consequence.

 

“I think it’s about time,” Droog said, breaking the silence. “That we found D.O.O.M.E.D.”

 

You, Paint, and Mobius gave nods.

“Yeah,” said Deuce and Hearts.

  
“Sounds like a plan.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to WV//themayorofcantown and The Voting Queen/Courageinabox for some inspiration here.
> 
> Song quoted is Ascension.
> 
> Mobius's POV of the end of this and beyond it is here, written by The Voting Queen/Courageinabox: http://archiveofourown.org/works/4925911/chapters/11323081

The middle of the maze had grown about three times its original size. Wires now covered the walls and and parts of the floor. You’d ditched your phone so he couldn’t hear you and the others, but you knew that he knew that you were coming.

Make yourself known, make people fear you, show no weakness, be strong, be graceful, be smart, be quick, be _fearless_.

One day you’d have an entire universe at your fingertips.

 

You were caught in a blur of thought and silence and stillness, though you were walking fairly quickly down a hallway.

D.O.O.M.E.D.’s gimmicks were terrible, you had started to realize. He’d- or, rather, you were beginning to call the android ‘it’- partnered with Bec Noir. Bec Noir had killed WV and PI, either for sport or for something else, some kind of deal. D.O.O.M.E.D had begun to corrupt your friends, depending on who was the mentally weakest. The panicked, the mourning, the fragile, the ones who believed lies and rumors, the ones you’d seen sometimes snap at others for reasons long dealt with.

PM was easily manipulated and usually unstable and unpredictable, Spades was equally unstable and had seen his Moirail die right before him, but who was next, if anyone?

Who had the weakest mindset as of current?

 

You glanced around, and your eyes settled on one of the group.

You knew.

 

Mobius.

 

You had sensed the others stop and you stopped walking as well, but you didn’t notice Droog pull a gun and aim it at the android.

D.O.O.M.E.D. had been expecting you guys. Of course.

 

“Okay, whoa,” the android chuckled. “You’re thinking the wrong thing here, Dignitary.”

“Fuck off,” Droog simply responded, losing the calm in his voice and turning it to anger.

“Oh, but I can’t,” D.O.O.M.E.D. said. “You guys are looking for something, no? But I’m not done with it, nor am I done with you.”

“We seek nothing but revenge,” you growled.

“Oh, you guys. I am talking about a _physical_ something.”

 

From the darkness and wires behind him, he pulled out WV.

 

You almost jumped.

WV quickly stumbled backwards again. He was afraid of everything that was happening. He had several cracks in his shell, and was trying to avoid getting near D.O.O.M.E.D.

 

D.O.O.M.E.D.’s eyes were locked with Droog’s, even as the android aimed his own pistol at WV. You saw the smaller carapacian jump in fear and cower.

“Shoot me, and I’ll shoot him.”

 

Droog seemed to consider his actions here. You believe D.O.O.M.E.D. would be smirking if he had a mouth.

D.O.O.M.E.D., not being focused on you, though, was vulnerable. You took this as a chance, and jumped in attack.

 

Your knife did nothing to the thicker plating on his shoulder, but it certainly pierced the outer thin layer, snapping several less important wires of his. You also managed to knock the gun out of his hand, and WV sprinted away from him.

 

A fight broke out.

 

D.O.O.M.E.D. threw you off, but he was pursued by Paint and Mobius. Paint usually wasn’t one for fighting, but she did what she could, and she was so much braver than she seemed. Mobius had his sword, the only weapon he had left. As you got up, Deuce set a bomb off in what you thought was record time. A chunk of the maze almost crushed D.O.O.M.E.D. and the Prospitians, but D.O.O.M.E.D. fled one direction while Mobius grabbed Paint to ran the other direction.

 

You sprinted forward, attempting to slice the wires sticking out from the android’s joints. The wires caught your ankle and you toppled over. Paint pounced onto D.O.O.M.E.D.’s back, using her slightly blunted claws to scratch at one of his bigger wires, the one that went from his neck and into his back. D.O.O.M.E.D. flinched, and Paint was thrown off as well.

 

The android moved to attack Mobius. Droog caught this before you did, and began firing at D.O.O.M.E.D. Mobius defended himself as much as he could, getting cut a few times, and sliced several of the android’s wires, and he was just about to break the entirety of the android’s lower arm until he was hit by D.O.O.M.E.D. and passed out. You hadn’t seen much of the fight, but Mobius was obviously injured very, very badly. He was bleeding heavily, and you temporarily froze, stuck between helping him or attacking the android. You moved to strike, stabbing D.O.O.M.E.D. in the side as he turned to face Droog. He moved so fast that he almost took the knife with him, but you managed to tear it out just before he sprinted. Droog was disarmed and sent flying by the android, and he tumbled to the ground.

 

D.O.O.M.E.D. turned on Deuce, who was trying to set up another bomb, but it just wasn’t lighting. You took this moment to grab WV, who had scrambled to the side of the room, and set him down in the corner rather than the side.

“You’ll be safer here,” you told him before running off.

 

You returned to find that Deuce had been knocked out, was struggling to breathe, was bloody, and that Hearts was pissed. With his bare fists, he’d beaten D.O.O.M.E.D. up pretty badly already. He left dents in thinner sheets of metal, teared through wires, and D.O.O.M.E.D. scrambled to get away and tripped the large carapacian using the cords. You heard a _crack!_ of shell as Hearts fell on his face. That’d leave a nasty mark.

 

You jumped on the android, attempting to slice at the wire that had made him flinch, the one Paint had discovered was a weak spot of sorts. He knocked you off again, though, and as you hit the floor, you dropped your knife. Droog quickly bolted to pick it up. You think you knew the plan here. You struggled up to your feet.

You ran over to D.O.O.M.E.D. and threw a punch to one of his joints. That minorly scratched up your knuckles, and they were bleeding. The android turned to hit you in the head. You staggered backwards into a wall, wincing and somewhat dizzy. He dug his sharp claws into your arm. You stomped on the open space on his heel, snapping several wires. D.O.O.M.E.D. freezing gave you a split second to escape.

 

Paint, in the meantime, was helping WV, bandaging cracks and cuts, calming him down. He didn’t seem to be as stressed and confused as before, nodding or shaking his head when Paint asked him questions. She tried to console him the best she could.

 

You turned back to D.O.O.M.E.D., throwing another punch, which only hurt you more than him. You’d busted your knuckles now, on sharp, ripped, and jagged metal. You were grabbed and thrown to the floor. Everything hurt. Your arms were scratched up, your legs were cut, and your head pulsed with pain. The world was turning into a blur, but you were still watching, ignoring the pain.

 

Droog jumped onto D.O.O.M.E.D.’s back as he walked towards you to try and finish you off. The android spun around to try to fling Droog off, but he remained on, cutting at the wire. D.O.O.M.E.D. was feeling some kind of simulated pain, and tried to throw Droog off repeatedly. Droog yelled something at Hearts, but you couldn’t seem to hear a lot.

 

Your vision faded. There was a quiet _snap!_ , followed by a _clunk!_ , followed by an even quieter _crack!_

You couldn’t tell who it was, but somebody said, “We did it. It’s over.”

Scurrying footsteps faded into silence.

 

Before you passed out, you recalled something. It was familiar, but why it came to you now, you didn’t know.

 

_The ancient ones, they rose and fell,_

_For reasons that we just can’t tell._

_Cataclysm- maybe so._

_Perhaps we’re just not meant to know._

 

\----

 

You didn’t know the time, the place, or anything.

Upon blinking open your eyes, you took way too much in at one time. White, blindness, which turned into a blurry gold that hurt your eyes. You shut your eyes tight. No, the light was horrible. You wanted to be somewhere dark again. The cold seemed to leave you, and was replaced by a strange warmness. The air seemed to be perfectly clean, and the warmth of the whole place just soothed you. It was vaguely familiar.

 

Memories slowly came back to you, and you opened your eyes again. It was still horribly yellow and bright. It gave you a headache.

 

This time, you heard something. “Hey Hadron,” said a voice. They sounded tired, but there was a small hint of pride. It had a quiet chime to it, and it seemed a little familiar. You glanced around for the source of it, but your vision was too blurred, and all you could see was that harsh, painful golden shade. You couldn’t tell if there were walls, if there was a floor, or if there was even a door or window or objects. “I’m glad you’re okay.” The person gave a quiet sigh of relief. “You look horrible, just stay put.”

 

Footsteps, walking away.

 

You realized then.

This was Prospit.

That was Mobius.

Alive.

You were alive. Both of you.

 

You shut your eyes and sighed, letting yourself relax.

It was over.

It was all over.


End file.
